Newton: Look what I got from my friends at meowbox! I can tell it’s for me, because even though the name on the outside wasn’t mine, inside, it lists my name first. Those meowbox people sure who know who is in charge around here.

Newton: It’s sealed with a feather. A feather for me? I don’t mind if I do!

Newton: Look at all the goodies in here! Which will I choose first?

Newton: This one. I’m taking this one, packaging and all. And don’t try to stop me and tell me you aren’t done taking photos. It’s time to PLAY!

No, that’s not drool collected in my whiskers. I’m just glistening with excitement.

Pierre: Oh, this looks interesting, I want to try it out, too.

Newton: I kind of drooled on it.

Pierre: Is there a dry end I can grab?

Newton: Umm… probably not.

Pierre: Even pre-drooled, this toy is irresistible!

Newton: I think we killed it. Does anyone know catnip condor CPR?

Newton: Let’s check out the edibles in the box! These Anchovy Snaps are little, dried fish with just two ingredients, anchovies and sea salt.

Newton: We aren’t normally allowed fish in our diet, so we are really excited that no one told our friends at meowbox that we should get the toys-only option for the subscription box. This is a big treat for us!

These anchovies are dried and crisp, so if you want to bat these little guys around a while, they’ll make pretty good toys. At least until they start to flake apart and your humans get a little worked up about you making a mess.

Newton: After eating those anchovies, I’m thirsty, so let’s check out this wine.

Pierre: Wine? Cats don’t drink wine!

Newton: This Pinot Meow is wine for cats. Instead of being made with grapes, it is made with catnip and beets. I would rather have catnip than alcohol any day.

Newton: This is my “I’m a teetotaling cat” face. I sniffed and sniffed Pinot Meow, but I wouldn’t drink it. The truth is that I don’t want to have to have to go to a twelve step program for cat wine. The one for catnip was hard enough.

Newton: Speaking of catnip, there were more exciting catnip toys in the box we haven’t checked out yet. Let’s do that now, starting with the catnip ladybug.

Newton: When it comes to catnip, I really DO inhale! This is my “never enough catnip” face.

Newton: The final toy in the meowbox for this month is a catnip fortune cookie. I’m a lucky cat already to have such a great home and family, and I don’t need a fortune cookie to tell me that. But this thing is fun. Watch how far it will go when I whack it across the floor. It’s coming your way, Pierre!

Pierre: Thank goodness he didn’t drool all over this one as much as the last toy. Now I can drool all over it and pretend it was Newton.

Newton: I heard that!

Other Things We Love about Meowbox

If you have been reading along with us for a while, you may recall we reviewed meowbox before. We don’t usually agree to review the same thing twice, but we made an exception for meowbox because they told us they had really changed. And they have!

There were obvious changes, like instead of having a plain card with information about the contents of the box, there was an adorable, decorative one with a link you can visit to get information about the box contents. Bonus that they promoted adopt a cat month in the June box.

Our favorite change is that the contents of the box itself are more unique. Previously, you could find some of the things that arrived in a meowbox at your local big box store. It was a fun Barkbox-for-cats type surprise when it arrived, but the new box took it to a whole new level. We had never heard of four of these products, and two of the toys were from Etsy vendors, so it supports small businesses. Win!

One thing that hasn’t changed about meowbox is that they give back with their One Box Can program, and you can track where the can of food donated for your meowbox goes. We were pretty excited to see that one of the shelters that meowbox supports is our hometown Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando. That’s Cousin Shep‘s alma mater. Paws up!

Another thing that hasn’t changed is the price. Even though the contents of the box are more upscale than they were a year ago, a single box is $26.95 with free shipping to the US and Canada. You can save $2 a month with a six month subscription and $4 a month with an annual subscription. As a bonus, you can get an extra 10% off with promo code CATSHERDYOU10.

FTC Disclosure: We were compensated to publish this review, but the opinions in this review are our own and not influenced by any outsider. We receive no additional benefits for talking about the product or company.

Our pampered, indoor cats two linked problems: obesity and boredom. The little tigers that are our housecats are biologically adapted to hunt for their small meals. Yet they’re living lives of luxury where they can nap on the sofa all day and then wander over to their bowl of all-you-can-eat kibble without making any more effort than walking across the room.

Is there any wonder over half of housecats today are overweight or obese?

A great way to stimulate your cat’s need to hunt and to also give your cat a little exercise while hunting their treats or kibble is using a puzzle feeder. It provides your cat both mental stimulation and exercise while doing something they have to do everyday: eat.

We don’t feed kibble at our house, but there are no kitties around here who will pass up treats. So when our I talked to our friends at Kruuse at Global Pet Expo about cat enrichment, I realized they got how enrichment and treat time could be put together. They offered to let us try some of their treat enrichment toys.

Catrine Catmosphere Ball

One thing you can’t tell from photos is how sturdy the ball is. My cats have actually split treat toys open in the past, so having one that is durable is a must. It’s also easy to adjust, with a little chrome collar that turns around the pink core insert that dispenses the treats. You can turn it so that it is wide open, allowing treats to fall out easily, or you can turn it to make the hole smaller so that your cat has to work harder to get the tasty stuff out. More work means more exercise, so it’s great that you can gradually build up to your cat playing for longer and longer lengths of time with it.

The unique design of the Catmosphere means that the pink core is actually open all the way down to the opening. Ashton could tell that the treats came out that way, and she tried digging them out with her paw at first. She’s the kind of cat who will try to get at the treats with the least effort necessary.

When the paw thing didn’t work out as well as she had hoped, she started to really bat it around. It’s hard to say whether being able to see the treats flying around inside the Catmosphere treat ball was an added attraction for her since she isn’t a very visual cat. She relies a lot on her other senses since her single eye tends to make her less interested in watching prey. But regular cats who are visual hunters can see the treats in there and that is an added incentive to bat it around.

One of the other great things about the Catmosphere is that Ashton will continue to play with it for a while after it is empty. This may be tied into her not actually looking through the clear side of the ball to see if it still has any goodies inside, but that’s five minutes of play and exercise she got that she wouldn’t have any other way. She seemed to really like the wobbling, uneven way it rolled around on the floor, so maybe that was what kept her attention so long once it wasn’t dispensing anything to eat. Either way, seeing a toy stimulate her to exercise when she is so difficult to get to play with so many other toys was great.

Buster Mini Dog Maze

When I was talking to the folks from Kruuse at Global Pet Expo, they showed me the Catmosphere treat ball, then they said, “That’s really all we have for cats.” But I spotted something else in their booth that I thought would make a good enrichment toy for cats: a dog food puzzle.

I know there aren’t as many products out there for cats as there are for dogs, especially not as many engaging enrichment toys for food. So thinking outside the box helps a little bit. The mini dog maze is meant for small dogs who are roughly the size of cats to have to work to get their dog food or treats out of the maze. It doesn’t have any moving parts, and it’s made of a sturdy plastic that’s even dishwasher safe.

What happens when you toss some cat treats into a maze intended for dogs to chase their treats? Pierre thought it was fascinating. He spent a long time pushing the treats around in the grooves of the maze.

The maze loops back on itself several times, making it fairly long, in cat maze length. Eventually, he got impatient and figured out he could fish the treats out mid-maze and flip them onto the floor for consumption. This process, of course, made his paws dirty.

Newton watched the whole process with interest.

When it was his turn, he dug around inside the maze with enthusiasm, dragging it around the floor while he fished out treats one by one. The maze has rubber feet, but they weren’t enough to keep it in place on the smooth tile of our floor when he started digging with both feet. It would probably stay in place better on carpet, but there wasn’t any harm in his moving it around as he played.

Both Newton and Pierre spent a long time with the maze, and I felt better about letting them have treats, knowing they were working some of the extra calories back off again and having fun at it.

When it comes down to it, exercise and activity are the best way to keep the extra weight off your cat, so having active cats who work for their treats (or kibble, if you feed it) is a great way to keep your cat healthy and happy.

FTC Disclosure: We received the Catrine Catmosphere and the Buster Mini Dog Maze from Kruuse in exchange for our honest review. The opinions in this review are my own and not influenced by any outsider. I receive no additional benefits for talking about the product or company.

Our favorite toys are the ones that move by themselves. That’s what is so great about wand toys, right? The problem is that humans won’t always wave the wand toy as long as you want them to. We heard that there was a toy that would wave a wand for you. SCORE! We had to check it out.

Our friends at PetSafe offered to let us try out the PetSafe Flitter teaser toy and to share one with one of our readers. Score for one of you, too!

The Flitter arrives unassembled.

Pierre: Uh-oh. I don’t have any thumbs.

It’s actually very easy to assemble if you have thumbs. Three pieces make a base that looks a little like a car’s steering wheel, then the base of the Flitter snaps down into the center. Push the two arms with the dragonflies into the slots at the top of the Flitter, add your batteries, and you’re ready to play.

With one button push, the dragonflies on their little strings start to whirl and move erratically, pausing periodically to tempt cats to grab at them before flying again. That pause and resume action is nearly irresistible, even to cats who are hesitant to approach the whirling arms of the toy at first. Pierre, always cautious, sat and watched until the dragonflies stopped whirling and then went after them. Then he was willing to keep swatting them after they started flying again.

At one point, he gave a dragonfly such a yank that it moved the Flitter about six inches across the tile floor, but it stayed securely upright. If you put the Flitter toy on a carpeted surface, it would probably be less likely to be moved around by an enthusiastic cat.

The Flitter makes funny little chirping sounds to get the attention of cats who might be asleep in another room and haven’t gotten the memo that it’s playtime. Since real dragonflies don’t make noises, who knows what those chips are actually supposed to be, but they are real attention-getters. Even Ashton, who is normally timid of moving toys that aren’t on the ground, wanted to join in the fun after hearing the call of the Flitter.

With her lack of depth perception, Ashton sat really far back from the toy at first and waved her paw at it at first, unable to reach the dragonflies that spun around the Flitter. But each time the Flitter paused, she inched closer and closer until she was within swatting distance.

Ashton: I have my eye on you now, dragonfly!

The Flitter has an option to turn back on periodically several times throughout the day to entertain your cat while you aren’t in the house during the day. With the long, flailing, moving parts and string attached to the dragonflies, you should watch how your cat plays with it it and think about how your cat handles things like string before you leave it unattended. We aren’t allowed to have the toy when no one is home because we chew string.

PetSafe Flitter Giveaway

Do you want to play with a PetSafe Flitter, too? It’s your big chance, because we’re giving one away.

No purchase necessary to enter the giveaway. The giveaway is open to residents of the United States, except where prohibited by law. Giveaway will run until May 30, 2016 at 11:59pm ET. A single winner will be randomly selected by Rafflecopter (powered by Random.org) and notified via email. Winner will have 48 hours to claim their prize; failure to do so will result in forfeiture of the prize and a new winner will be randomly chosen.

FTC Disclosure: We were compensated to run this review and giveaway. The opinions in this review are our own and not influenced by any outsider. We receive no additional benefits for talking about the product or company.

Ever since Pierre’s blood tests showed him in stage 2 chronic kidney disease, I have been thinking about ways to keep him hydrated and having water everywhere he goes. So when the good folks at Heyrex offered to let us try out their Torus water bowl, I only had to hear the word “water” to say I wanted to try it.

The Torus bowl is shaped like a hollow donut with a floor in the “donut hole” to contain drinking water. The hollow donut around the bowl can store either 1 or 2 liters of water in a surprisingly compact space, and s small hole on the inside of the donut lets a small portion of water spill into the “donut hole,” where your cat can drink it.

You know those watering bowls that have a tall tank and make a big “glug” sound when they dispense additional water? Yeah, that would terrify Pierre. He’s still unsure of his own drinking fountain. But the water from the Torus reservoir spills silently into the center bowl area, letting even a timid cat accept it almost immediately.

The reason the Torus bowl works silently is that it is gravity-fed. There are no batteries or plugs needed to make it work.

One of the other things I really liked about this bowl as a clumsy human is that it’s low profile. Unlike a regular bowl, when I blunder into it in the middle of the night, it isn’t going to splash all over the place because it only has a small amount of water dispensed at a time. It’s also pretty heavy when it is full of a liter of water. That combined with it being low profile means that any accidental midnight soccer games you play with it will keep it pretty much in the same location and keep things tidy.

You fill the Torus bowl up by switching the three-way switch to fill mode and removing it. Water goes right in.

So does one of the Torus carbon filters that helps keep drinking water clean.

Then you put the switch back on, and switch it to drink mode. The reservoir around the Torus bowl gravity-feeds into the bowl in the middle. I liked how you can switch the bowl to travel mode and shut off refilling. After you empty the bowl, even turning the Torus upside-down doesn’t spill a drop. How great is that for car trips?

The only drawback I see to the Torus bowl is cleaning it. Water is stored on the inside of the donut-shaped reservoir and the cradle to hold the charcoal filter makes it hard to feed even a flexible brush inside. I can’t scrub all of the surfaces that come into contact with water. There’s a solution, though. You can use sterilizing tablets, designed for baby bottles, to clean the interior.

All in all, I love the Torus bowl. Even more importantly, so does Pierre. His having water everywhere is the real deciding factor for me.

The Torus bowl is cleverly designed, and it’s a really useful way to dispense water, especially if you travel with your cat. I’m going to add one to the cats’ hurricane evacuation kit, because that’s when my cats are most likely to travel and need it the most. Water everywhere you go. It doesn’t get more convenient than that!

FTC Disclosure: We were compensated for this review, but the opinions expressed are our own and not influenced by any outsider.

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